Chinese President Xi Jinping said Sunday that Asia faced "new challenges" to its stability and warned no one should be allowed to throw the region into chaos as tensions mounted over North Korea.
Xi, delivering a speech at an annual international forum on the southern Chinese island of Hainan, did not mention the crisis on the Korean Peninsula or China's territorial disputes with Japan and Southeast Asian nations. But he said there should be no tolerance for those who foster "chaos for selfish gains" and reiterated that China would "firmly" uphold its "sovereignty" and "territorial integrity".
Tensions have soared in recent weeks with North Korea threatening nuclear war after the United Nations imposed fresh sanctions over its latest atomic test and the US and South Korea launched joint war games.
"We need to make concerted efforts to resolve major difficulties to ensure stability in Asia," Xi said.
"Stability in Asia now faces new challenges as hot spot issues keep emerging and both traditional and non-traditional security threats exist," he added. China has traditionally been North Korea's closest political ally since they fought together in the 1950-1953 Korean War and is Pyongyang's biggest trading partner.
Speaking more broadly, Xi called on the international community to push for a "vision of comprehensive security, common security and co-operative security". Xi said that was necessary so the world could become a stage for the pursuit of "common development", as opposed to one "where gladiators fight each other".
"And no one should be allowed to throw a region, even the whole world, into chaos for selfish gains," he added.
Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard echoed Xi, saying "all countries in the region share a deep interest in strategic stability". But Gillard, who has been critical of Pyongyang, singled out North Korea, saying the Korean Peninsula situation illustrated the potential consequences of conflict.